Hailing from London, Ontario, Canada, Stout hopes to finally
silence critics that claim he received a gift in his victory in Las
Vegas.

Stout, 23, was originally set to meet Kenny Florian(Pictures), but two days before the event
Florian was forced to pull out with a bad back. Fisher, 20 pounds
overweight and drinking a coke when he got the call, was brought in
to play the role of late replacement.

After three tight and exciting rounds, Stout took a split decision
nod, yet many suggested that Fisher, now 31, would have won had he
trained properly.

Fisher didn't mess around in the first four minutes, dropping power
shot after power shot on the game Stout, who remained in the pocket
and threw as many as he ate.

After dropping the opening round, Stout came back nicely in round
two. Combinations were finished with kicks and he adeptly defended
Fisher's attempts at leg submissions.

By the start of the third, Fisher was clearly fatigued and Stout
began to take it to him. So tired was the North Carolinian that
three times in the span of a minute his mouthpiece hit the floor.
But the short respites were hardly sufficient to allow him to
recover the sort of energy he needed to unleash the dangerous
strikes that won him the opening stanza.

Since that time, both Stout and Fisher have remained busy.

Stout (11-2-1) has three fights: a submission loss to Florian,
followed by two victories over guys considered to be stronger on
the ground, Jay Estrada(Pictures) and Fabio Holanda(Pictures). In submitting Estrada via
armbar, Stout avenged one of his only two losses in MMA.

Stout knows that this fight is an important one for him, telling
Sherdog.com, "Every fight you have to perform well. People only
remember your last fight. This is a big chance for me to redeem
myself to the UFC fans, and it's great to be able to do it as a
main event on a SpikeTV card in front of millions of people
watching at home."

When told that in the year since they last fought, Fisher is bound
to have improved, Stout retorted, "Yeah, I expect a bit of a
different Spencer Fisher(Pictures), but he should be expecting
a different Sam Stout(Pictures)."

Stout was referring to his developing jiu-jitsu and wrestling --
skills that he's been able to hone with his newfound training
partners.

A longtime member of Team Tompkins, for this training camp Stout
made the trek south to Las Vegas, where he joined his trainer
Shawn Tompkins(Pictures) at UFC heavyweight champion
Randy Couture(Pictures)'s gym, Extreme Couture.

"Tompkins is my best friend, like a brother to me," said Stout.
"I've known all along that he's going to do the things he's
starting to do now, and it's nice to see that the rest of the world
is finally giving him the recognition that he deserves."

Stout claimed that this experience has done him a world of good in
preparing for Fisher.

"They've pushed me to a point that I don't think Spencer is going
to be able to push me in this fight."

Although he's much more comfortable on the ground than ever before,
Stout still knows how he wants this fight to go.

"I'm still primarily a striker," said Stout, an underdog coming
into the lightweight tilt. "And I plan on going in there and
banging and making the fight exciting for the fans. I still think
that's the most exciting way to fight, and that's how I plan to
approach this fight."